


Tender only to one

by middlemarch



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 007 Fest, Angst, Conversations, F/M, M/M, Romance, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 21:13:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: It was a conversation they could have anywhere. Seemingly any day, the way things were going.





	Tender only to one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tessaquayle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessaquayle/gifts).



“Q needs to stop making cow eyes at James. That’s not going to happen,” Vivian said quietly. No one else would have heard her, she’d made sure of that, but she hadn’t whispered. She hadn’t spoken in a way to try and turn him on, so he couldn’t blame her for it.

“Cow eyes?” Gareth repeated.

“Don’t you know that expression? Moony? Is that better?” she said, then took a sip from her mug. Her throat was long and lovely when she swallowed, whether it was a crockery mug or a champagne flute she drank from. Whether she held a piece of painted china in her hand or his cock, her dark eyes always just as beautiful.

“I suppose. You think it’s unrequited?” Gareth asked, watching her squint, wishing to take the pins from her carefully arranged hair to see if all fall down, black against the white silk of her blouse. It wasn’t so dark in the bed they shared, in the candlelight or at dawn; then, he saw other colors, rich and warm, lively as flames.

“I think James can’t allow it. That’s not quite the same,” she said.

“Can’t—or won’t?” Gareth said.

“Splitting hairs now, are we? You know him better than I do, after all,” Vivian said.

“He loved Vesper very much. Losing her—it broke him,” Gareth said. He hadn’t even liked the man but he couldn’t help pitying him when he’d seen him afterwards. He’d never see a man with eyes so blue, so dead. With eyes that wished so much for death and a mouth that wouldn’t let him stop consuming whatever came his way. It was around then that Moneypenny had taken to single malt Scotch.

“I think Q likes to fix broken things. And James knows it,” Vivian said. “What would it mean to be mended?”

“Indeed,” Gareth said, musing. And thanking the Queen’s English he could say a word like _Indeed_ and not end the conversation but make it clear she might.

“How English you are! I forget sometimes,” she laughed. Not loud enough to attract the attention of either man across the room. 

“I’m meant to believe you forget anything? Ever?” Gareth said. 

“You’re meant to pretend. If I want you to,” she said, finally coquettish. It was rare for her to be so flirtatious. She was usually all subtlety, all shadow and delicious, intoxicating nuance. Until she decided to cut.

“Your wish, madam, is my command,” he said.

“Oh, if only that were true!” she sighed. It would take him all night to decide what she meant. What she wanted. At least, unlike Q, he had a chance to discover it. And he knew, already, she wanted him to.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Stevie Smith. Someone might have commented on the surfeit of 007/Q in her dash. Dr. Liu had an opinion.


End file.
